Oscillating engine.



G. MACKENZIE.

OSCILLATING' ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.6. 1913.

1,182,396. 7 Patented May 9,1916.

Wu @6566 I nvng r GEURGE MACKENZIE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

OSCILLA'IING ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9, 1916.

i Appligzition filed August 6, 1913. Serial No. 784,288.

To all'whom-z't may concern.

Be it known that -'I, GEORGE MACKENZIE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New York, in the county of Bronx and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ()scillat ing Engines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to oscillating engines. Engines of this class have so far found only limited application, owing to the great friction on. the piston rod and the noise incident to their use. I

In my im roved form of oscillating engine, not on y are these objections removed, but increased durability, efficiency, compactne'ss, simplicity and lower initial cost are at the same time secured. To accomplish this result, I provide a cross head for the piston rod and a rigid support or guide for this head. I further make use of the oscillating steam cylinder to directly and. automatically operate the cut-off and 'exhaust valves, thus doing away with the necessity of connecting these valves with the main shaft by means of an eccentric or other of the old and known contrivances.

The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing, in which- Figure 1 7 piston, piston rod, cross head, and guide for the cross head. Fig. 2 is a view showing diagrammatically the valve mechanism of the engine. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing somewhat conventionally a rotary valve with valve stem, rocker arm and connecting rod, and Fig. 4 shows a modified form of engine of simpler construction for sta-- tionary purposes.

Like letters indicate the same parts in all. the figures.

In the drawing there is shown an oscillating cylinder'A, a piston B, a piston .rod C, a cross head D, on the piston rod, a U-shaped guide E, rigidly attached to the cylinder, a crank F, and a main shaft G, a rotary valve H, a valve stem I, a rocker arm' J, connected with the valve stem and car- Tying a set screw K, by means of which the valve stem is rigidly attached to the rocker arm, and by means of which the angular. position of the rotary valve with reference to the rocker arm is adjusted. Connecting rods L are attached to the roclter arms and to disks M, supplied with arms N attached hows in vertical section a.

to rods 0 connected with a handled lever P, held In desired position by notches ina seg- ,ment Q. attached to a frame R supporting strain resulting from sudden and great increase in the load on the shaft G. Any tendency to bend or distort the piston rod is thus avoided and a piston rod of'very much less diameter maybe used, than has previously been possible in oscillating engines. The result is much diminished fric* tion on the stuffing box of the piston rod and leakage is substantially prevented, whereas in the old types of oscillating engines the friction on the stufling box was very serious and the leakage so bad that a dripping pan was almost indispensable in their use.

To more clearly explain the operation of the rotary valves, I shall first assume that the crank F is detached from the piston rod C. In this case the cylinder A becomes changed from an oscillating cylinder to a stationary one. By now moving the bandled lever fl up and down, steam may be admitted and exhausted from the cylinder A causing reciprocation of the piston B. If now again the handle P is fastened, the cylinder A is moved forward and backward on its trunnions or rocked, it is-evident that steam will be admitted and exhausted through the valves H just as before, resulting in the reciprocation of the piston B as before. If new again, the crank F be considered attached, it is clear that by a proper motion of the handle P'theengine will be started and that each complete stroke of the piston B will result in an oscillation of the cylinder A just as was before supposed to be effected by hand, and that each. oscillaeffected by hand. Now considering more in detail the manner of admitting and emitting.

steam during asingle stroke of the piston, we find that when the engineis started and the cylinder A commences to oscillate, the

valve H is restrained from joining in the motion of the cylinder in which it fits, by the rocker arm J and its connections The partial revolution of the valve containing cylinder brings the side of the slot admitting the steam closer to the edge of the valve. In other words, we have the effect of a stationary valve inside of a'revolving cylinder, which, as far as concerns the closing and opening of the port, is the same as that of a revolvin valve inside of a stationary cylinder. A ter the edge of the valve and the side of the slot have approached some distance, the-action of the connecting rod L upon the rocker arm J comes into play and the complete closing of the slot or port is effected. The supplemental motion that the valves are called upon to execute and which is eifectuated by the connecting rods, is very insignificant, and as the oscillation of the cylinder is necessary whether the valves are attached to a stationary point or not, it is evident that the movement of the valves is accomplished with the least possible addition of elements or parts, resulting in increased efficiency, simplicity and durability, and decreased friction, noise and initial cost. On the return oscillation of the cylinder or on reversion of the engine the action of the valves is, of course, reversed.

The connecting rods L are so arranged that when one of the valves His opened the valve diagonally opposite will be closed and the operation of the other two valves is the same. Thus one valve will always serve to admit steamand the one diagonally opposite always serves to exhaust steam, that is w have one valve admitting steam,'a second valve diagonally opposite exhausting steam, a third valve admitting steam on the return stroke and a fourth valve exhausting steam on the return stroke. '.The steam is admitted through one of the trunnions of the engine and exhausted through the other one by means of usual channels not shown.

The described arrangement of the valves I makes this engine capable of exceedingly nick and easy, reversion, WlllCh 1s a useful eature in many cases such as the pr'opulsion of automobiles and launches.

The cylinder A is shown as provided with four ports, but a cylinder with two ports, serving alternately as inletsand exhaust, may also be used. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 4.

The use of the guide E isequally applicable to oscillating steam engines and oscillating internal combustion engines i n fact,

it makes of the latter a possibility.

The main advantages of an oscillating engine are its compactness and the reduced number of elements or parts used in its construction. These advantages are realized in the highest degree in my formof oscillating engine. As the cylinder by its own oscillation operates-i the steam inlet and exhaust valves, all the power imparted to the shaft G by'thecrank- F and the piston rod C is available as motive force.

. My invention is not limited to the form of valves and valve mechanism shown or to rotary valves, as other forms may be devised, in which the valves are attached to a stationary point and are actuated by the oscillations of the cylinder, Which-has the effect of partly revolving the cylindrical chambers holding the rotary valves and of acting as a lever operating the valves.

A U. S. patent application for this invention S. N. 716567 was filed Aug. 9, 1902, which application became abandoned without abandoning the invention.

What I claim as new is:

1. In an oscillating engine, the combina tion of an oscillating cylinder, inlet and exhaust ports, oscillating valves for the ports, rocker arms connected with the valves, means for adjusting the angular positions of the valves with reference to the rocker arms, connecting rods attached to the rocker arms, disks attached to the connecting rods, arms attached to the disks, rods attached to the arms and a lever connected with the rods.

2. The combination of the cylinder A, the oscillating valves H' serving both as inlet and exhaust valves, the rocker arms J, the connecting rods L, and the disks M combined to operate substantially as described.

3. The combination of the cylinder A, the rotary valves H serving both as inlet and exhaust valves, the rocker arms J, the connecting rods L, the disks M, and the lever P combined to operate substantially as described.

4; The combination of an oscillating cylinder having combined inlet and exhaust ports provided with rotary-valves, rocker arms attached to said valves, connecting rods 'each attached at one end to one of the said rocker arms and at the other end to :1 disk capable of being fixed in a definite position by means of a lever so as to increase or decrease the rotations of the valves.

Signed at New York in the 'county of New York and State of New York, this 30th day of July A. D. 1913.

' GEORGE MACKENZIE. Witnesses:

C. A. O. ROSELL, E. C. DUFF.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner oi Patents. Washington, D. C. 

